Oscar Downtain
was the first Constable of Lake City, Colorado. The son of
Grotious and Charlotte Mary (Burgess) Downtain, he was born on
December 26, 1848 in Harrison County, Kentucky.Submitted by Harley K. Haynes, Jr.,
third great-grandson of Charlotte Mary (Burgess) Downtain.

Edward
Newton Campbell was born in Coshocton County, Ohio in September,
1843. He served as a Fifer in Company K of the 32nd Regiment of
the Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, and was a
school teacher in Effingham County, Illinois. He relocated to
Waterville, Kansas in 1869, and on March 26, 1870 married Ruth
Scott. He and his family moved to Lake City, Colorado in 1876. He
was elected Sheriff of Hinsdale County in 1879. On April 26,
1882, Sheriff Campbell and Deputy Clair Smith caught George Betts
and James Browning in the act of robbing the W. G. Luckett
residence in the Ball Flats. Sheriff Campbell was killed
instantly by a single shot from a .44 caliber pistol. Betts and
Browning escaped, but were caught a few hours later. An angry mob
took the men from jail and hung them from the Ocean Wave Bridge,
now the Ball Flats Bridge, the next day. Sheriff Campbell was
survived by his wife and six children per the 1880 Census: Cora,
George, Charles, Perry and Effie; the sixth child was not listed
in reference. In 1885, Ruth (Scott) Campbell married George
Shocky Campbell, her former brother-in-law. She died on June 4,
1940 in Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin. Information taken from Cemeteries
of Hinsdale County, Colorado, 1974-1995, Revised 1996, pp.
28-29. Compiled and Researched by Grant E. Houston for the
Hinsdale County Historical Society, Lake City, Colorado. Printed
by The Anundsen Publishing Company, 108 Washington Street, P.O. Box 230,
Decorah, Iowa 52101 and used with permission of the Hinsdale County Historical
Society. Information is copyrighted and cannot be used without permission.

Sheriff George Gardner
1886 - 1892

Terrance Brennan was the
Sheriff of Hinsdale County, Colorado from 1892 to 1896. Photographs provided by
Robert Brennan of Denver,
Colorado.

Sheriff W. P. Hunt
1908-1909

Benjamin
Foster Hunt was the Sheriff of Hinsdale County, Colorado
from 1914 to 1924. The son of Joseph A. and Sarah A. (Smith)
Hunt, he was born on June 17, 1888 in Grand Junction, Colorado
and remained single.. He died of pneumonia on July 7, 1929 in
Lake City, Colorado. A veteran of World War One, he served in
Company D, 341st Field Artillery, 89th Division.